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Carthage
:See also: Carthage (scorpion city?) was a Phoenician state that included, during the 7th–3rd centuries BC, its wider sphere of influence known as the Carthaginian Empire. The empire extended over much of the coast of Northwest Africa as well as encompassing substantial parts of coastal Iberia and the islands of the western Mediterranean Sea. Initially a dependency of the Phoenician state of Tyre, Carthage gained independence around 650 BC and established its political hegemony over other Phoenician settlements throughout the western Mediterranean, this lasting until the end of the 3rd century BC. At the height of the city's prominence, it served as a major hub of trade, with trading stations extending throughout the region. with significant local modifications. (See .) Many of the gods the Carthaginians worshiped were localized and are now known only under their local names. The supreme divine couple was that of Tanit and Baal Hammon. The goddess Astarte seems to have been popular in early times. For much of its history, Carthage was on hostile terms with the Greeks in Sicily and with the Roman Republic; tensions led to a series of armed conflicts known as the Sicilian Wars (c. 600–265 BC) and the Punic Wars (264–146 BC) respectively. The city also had to deal with potentially hostile Berbers, the indigenous inhabitants of the area where Carthage was built. In 146 BC, after the third and final Punic War, Roman forces destroyed Carthage then redesigned and occupied the site of the city. Nearly all of the other Phoenician city-states and former Carthaginian dependencies subsequently fell into Roman hands. Roman Carthage After the destruction of Punic Carthage in 146 BC, a new city of Carthage (Latin Carthāgō) was built on the same land. It was the center of the Roman province of Africa, which was a major breadbasket of the empire. .}} rhetorically addressed the Roman governor with the fact that the Christians of Carthage that just yesterday were few in number, now "have filled every place among you —cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market-places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palaces, senate, forum; we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods." ( written at Carthage, c. 197). In the first of a string of rather poorly reported a few years later, no fewer than 70 bishops attended. Tertullian later broke with the mainstream that was represented more and more by the bishop of Rome, but a more serious rift among Christians was the controversy, which spent much time and parchment arguing against. Donatism The Roman governor of North Africa, lenient to the large Christian minority under his rule throughout the persecutions, was satisfied when Christians handed over their s as a token repudiation of faith. When the persecution ended, Christians who did so were called —"those who handed (the holy things) over"—by their critics (who were mainly from the poorer classes). Like third-century , ; the church must be a church of "saints" (not "sinners"),}} and sacraments administered by traditors were invalid. In 311 (a new bishop of ) was consecrated by , an alleged traditor. His opponents consecrated , a short-lived rival who was succeeded by Donatus. Two years later, a commission appointed by condemned the Donatists. They persisted, seeing themselves as the true Church with valid sacraments. Because of their association with the , the Donatists were repressed by Roman authorities. Although they had local support, their opponents were supported by Rome. The Donatists were still a force during the lifetime of , and disappeared only after the seventh- and eighth-century . The Donatists refused to accept the sacraments and of priests and bishops who were traditors during the persecution. The traditors had returned to positions of authority under ; according to the Donatists, sacraments administered by the traditors were invalid. Whether the could reconcile a traditor to full communion was questioned, and the church's position was that the sacrament could. The church still imposed years- (sometimes decades-) long public for serious sins. A penitent would first beg for the prayers of those entering a church from outside its doors. They would next be permitted to kneel inside the church during the . After being allowed to stand with the congregation, the penitent would finally be allowed to receive the again. The validity of sacraments administered by priests and bishops who had been traditors was denied by the Donatists. According to Augustine, a sacrament was from God and ex opere operato (Latin for "from the work carried out”). A priest or bishop in a state of could continue to administer valid sacraments. / The Donatists believed that a repentant apostate priest could no longer consecrate the Eucharist. Some towns had Donatist and orthodox congregations. Council of Carthage (397) , the for the western Church was confirmed.}} The Council of Carthage, called the third by , issued a of the on 28 August 397. The primary source of information about the third Council of Carthage comes from the Codex Canonum Ecclesiæ Africanæ, which presents a compilation of ordinances enacted by various church councils in Carthage during the fourth and fifth centuries. In one section of this code the following paragraph concerning the appears. 16 Placuit ut praeter Scripturas canonicas nihil in Ecclesia legatur sub nomine divinarum Scripturarum. Sunt autem canonicae Scripture: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numeri, Deuterenomium, Iesu Nave, Iudicum, Ruth, Regnorum libri quatour, Paralipomenon libri duo, Iob, Psalterium Davidicum, Salomonis libre quinque, Duodecim libri prophetarum, Esaias, Ieremias, Daniel, Ezechiel, Tobias, Iudith, Hester, Hesdrae libre duo, Machabaeorum libre duo. 17 Novi autem Testamenti, evangeliorum libri quatuor, Actus Apostolorum liber unus, Pauli Apostoli epistolae tredecim., eiusdem ad Hebraeos una, Petri duae, Iohannis tres, Iacobi una, Iudae una, Apocalipsis Ioannis. 18 Ita ut de confirmando isto canone trasmarina Ecclesia consultatur. Liceat etiam legi passiones Martyrum, cum anniversarii dies eorum celebrantur 20 Hoc etiam fratri et consacerdoti nostro Bonifacio, vel aliis earum partium episcopis, pro confirmando isto canone innotescas, quia ita a patribus ista accepimus in ecclesia legenda. 16 It was also determined that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in the Church under the title of divine Scriptures. The Canonical Scriptures are these: , , , , , , , , four books of , two books of , , the , five books of , the books of the , , , , , , , , two books of , two . 17 Of the New Testament: , one book of the , thirteen , one epistle of the same writer to the , two , three of , one of , one of , one book of the . 18 So let the church over the sea be consulted to confirm this canon. Let it also be allowed that the Passions of Martyrs be read when their festivals are kept. 20 Let this be made known also to our brother and fellow-priest Boniface, or to other bishops of those parts, for the purpose of confirming that Canon. Because we have received from our fathers that those books must be read in the Church. |sign=|source=Enchiridium Biblicum 8-10}} The "five books of Solomon", according to Augustine, were , , , , and . Vandals Around 400, raids by the forced many Germanic tribes to migrate into the territory of the , and fearing that they might be targeted next the Vandals were pushed westwards, the into along with other tribes in 406. In 409 the Vandals crossed the into the , where their main groups, the and the , settled in (northwest Iberia) and (south-central Iberia) respectively. After the invaded Iberia in 418, the and Silingi Vandals voluntarily subjected themselves to the rule of Hasdingian leader , who was pushed from Gallaecia to Baetica by a Roman- coalition in 419. In 429, under king (reigned 428–477), the Vandals entered . By 439 they which included the as well as , , , and the . They fended off several Roman attempts to recapture the African province, and in 455. Their kingdom collapsed in the of 533–4, in which Emperor 's forces reconquered the province for the . Muslim conquest of the Maghreb , ordered by , commenced in 647.}} 20,000 Arabs marched from in the , another 20,000 joined them in , and led them into the Byzantine . The army took (in present-day ). , the local Byzantine governor, had declared his independence from the in North Africa. He gathered his allies, confronted the invading Islamic Arab forces and suffered defeat (647) at the , a city 240 kilometres (150 mi) south of . With the death of Gregory his successor, probably , secured the Arab withdrawal in exchange for tribute. The campaign lasted fifteen months and Abdallah's force returned to Egypt in 648. All further Muslim conquests were soon interrupted, however, the dissidents murdered Caliph Uthman after holding him under house arrest in 656. He was replaced by , who in turn was assassinated in 661. The of largely secular and hereditary Arab caliphs, then established itself at and Caliph began consolidating the empire from the to the western border of Egypt. He put a governor in place in Egypt at , creating a subordinate seat of power that would continue for the next two centuries. He then continued the invasion of non-Muslim neighboring states, attacking and (in Asia Minor) in 663. In 664 , Afghanistan, fell to the invading Muslim armies. (also known as the Mosque of Uqba) in 670 AD - the oldest and most important mosque in North Africa, city of , .}} .}} , to protect Egypt "from flank attack by Byzantine Cyrene". So "an army of more than 40,000 Muslims advanced through the desert to , took it, and marched to the neighborhood of Carthage", defeating a defending Byzantine army of 20,000 in the process.}} Next came a force of 10,000 Arabs led by the Arab general and enlarged by thousands of others. Departing from Damascus, the army marched into North Africa and took the vanguard. In 670 the city of (roughly 150 kilometers mi south of modern ) was established as a refuge and base for further operations. This would become the capital of the Islamic province of , which would cover the coastal regions of today's western , , and eastern . After this, as writes, the fearless general "plunged into the heart of the country, traversed the wilderness in which his successors erected the splendid capitals of and , and the ". In his conquest of the (western North Africa) he besieged the coastal city of as well as Tingi or , overwhelming what had once been the traditional province of . Luis Garcia de Valdeavellano writes: In their invations against the Byzantines and the Berbers, the Arab chieftains had greatly extended their African dominions, and as early as the year 682 Uqba had reached the shores of the Atlantic, but he was unable to occupy Tangier, for he was forced to turn back toward the Atlas Mountains by a man who became known to history and legend as . Moreover, as Gibbon writes, Uqba, "this Mahometan Alexander, who sighed for new worlds, was unable to preserve his recent conquests. By the universal rebellion against muslim occupation of the Greeks and Africans he was recalled from the shores of the Atlantic." On his return, a Berber-Byzantine coalition and crushed his forces near , killing Uqba and wiping out his troops. Then, adds Gibbon, "The third general or governor of Africa, , avenged and encountered the fate of his predecessor in the . He vanquished the native population in many battles; but he was overthrown by a powerful army, which had sent to the relief and liberation of Carthage." It resulted in a series of four caliphs between the death of in 680 and the accession of (Abdalmalek) in 685; It began with the renewed invasion of Ifriqiya. Gibbon writes: the standard was delivered to Hassan governor of Egypt, and the revenue of that kingdom, with an army of forty thousand men, was consecrated to the important service. In the vicissitudes of war, the interior provinces had been alternately won and lost by the Saracens. But the seacoast still remained in the hands of the Greeks; and the number of its defenders was recruited by the fugitives of and . and the mention of scaling-ladders may justify the suspicion, that he anticipated, by a sudden assault, the more tedious operations of a regular siege. Battle of Carthage (698) s in 695, Emperor sent the navy under the command of and the . They entered the harbor and successfully recaptured it in a stunning surprise attack in 697}}, which resulted in the city's Arab forces fleeing to . Emir was in the middle of a campaign in the region, but withdrew from campaigning in the field to confront the renewed challenge to the emerging caliphate and he drew plans at to retake the following spring. It is estimated that he headed a force of 40,000 men. The Romans sent out a call for help to their allies, the native , and to enemies the and the . Despite the king of the Visigoths, , sending a force of 500 warriors in order to help defend Carthage, the Romans were in disarray due to in-fighting and were sapped of much of their strength. , enraged at having to retake a city that had not resisted the Roman take over, offered no terms except to surrender or die. The Emperor had also given his forces instructions of victory or death. The Romans left Carthage and attacked the Emir's army directly, but were defeated, and the Roman commander decided to wait out the siege behind the walls of Carthage to let the exhaust themselves, since he could continue to be resupplied from the sea. The Romans retreated to the islands of , and to further resist Muslim expansion. was later murdered after a conspiracy at the hands of his co-commander, Tiberius Apsimarus. Tiberius Apsimarus then, instead of taking the step of returning to to fight the Muslims, sailed instead to . After a successful rebellion he rose to the throne as , and was later deposed by former emperor , now known as the Rhinotmetus. The conquest of North Africa by the forces of was now nearly complete. Hasan's forces met with trouble from the tribe of under . and they inflicted a serious defeat on him and drove him back to . However, in 702 Caliph strongly reinforced him. Now with a large army and the support of the settled population of , Hasan pushed forward. He decisively defeated in the , 85 miles (136 km) west of . He then developed the village of , ten miles from the destroyed Carthage. References Category:Religion